Who was Priscillian of Avila?

Answer 1

Priscillian, Bishop of Avila was condemned to death in Trier, Gaul, in 385 or 386 CE on charges of "heresy and witchcraft". He was the first Christian to be executed by Christians themselves. His notably Gnostic message attracted the ire of some of his fellow bishops who sought to censor him and his followers of whom, in the north of Spain and the south of Gaul, there were many. Both men and women were welcomed and heard equally. They met, not in churches, but "conventicles" somewhat like the modern house church movement. The emphasis of Priscillianism was on a direct communion with the Divine achieved through reaing of sacred mateials including apocrypha, prayer and ritual fasting. The Priscillianists were vegetarian. While the laity were able to continue to maintain normal family life, some felt chosen to embrace a more aesthetic life which included celibacy and a giving up of all possessions. Comparisons with the Parfait of the later Cathars are inevitable. There is some possibility that it is Priscillian who is buried in the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela rather than St. James as is claimed. Tracy Saunders´s novel of the Camino entitled Pilgrimage to Heresy explores this possibility based on Professor Henry Chadwick´s Priscillian of Avila: The Occult and the Charismatic in the Early Church. See also Wikipedia: Priscillian, Priscillianism, The Way of St. James